


Together We Make A Family

by supercali



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family, M/M, Roblivion, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:37:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9999332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercali/pseuds/supercali
Summary: Just a normal day. Robert feels awful, Liv's late and Aaron's in prison.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was woken like this today and I hate it so this is what happens!
> 
> I've researched the prison stuff so if anything is wrong I apologise.
> 
> Just my contribution for day one of Robron week (posted late because AO3 wasn't playing nice!)

“Robert!”

He blinked, waking with a jolt. He hates waking up that way, preferred to wake up slowly in his own time. Hates feeling his heart race with the shock of being pulled from sleep.

“Robert!”

He opens his eyes, squinting against the bright light, seeing Liv standing beside the bed, fully dressed in her school uniform, hair flowing around her shoulders. He can’t get his brain to catch up, shakes his head slowly. He feels so tired, so weighed down, his limbs heavy, his eyes full of grit.

“What is it?” He mumbles, the words scratching his dry throat.

“It’s quarter to nine! I’m gonna be late! You said you’d wake me.”

“You’re fifteen.” He grumbles, pulling himself up against the headboard, pointedly not letting his gaze stray to the empty side of the bed. 

“I told you my phone’s knackered. I told you! You said you’d wake me!” He can’t deal with the shouting, his head is pounding. Just agree, it’s easier said the voice in his head, the one that sounded just like Aaron. “Robert!”

“Alright, Liv, just stop screaming. I’m sorry. I’m not perfect!” Finally there was quiet. “Five minutes, I’ll take you to school.”

Wincing as she stomps from the room, slamming the door for good measure, he slumps backwards. He feels like he hasn’t slept for months. A week, is that really all it’s been since Aaron had gone, since he’d been left to look after a teenager, one who was doing her best to be as intolerable as possible in her brother’s absence. He's already had to deal with Bernice complaining about her being a bad influence on her precious Gabby. Liv’s scared, he knows that, of course she is, so is he, but she’s been doing her utmost to test Robert at every turn and he doesn’t know how to get through to her. Just to top it all off he appears to have woken up with what feels like the world’s worst hangover. That would be fine but he didn’t drink anything last night.

“Come on Robert!” For God’s sake! Where’s the girl who had to be dragged to school kicking and screaming gone?

With a sigh he drags himself out of bed, stumbles to the bathroom, then pulls on the first clothes he comes to and hurries down the stairs.

“Finally!”

“I could have made you get the bus and leave you to explain to your teachers.” Not that he would. He’s already had to go in twice because she’s got herself into fights over Aaron. 

He thinks her science teacher might still be shaking from his last visit. He could say Liv was insufferable and a troublemaker and so could Aaron, but some teacher who obviously didn’t care what she was going through couldn’t and he'd made sure he knew that. He’d have to remember to tell Aaron about the look on his face when he sees him, it might make him smile, might make Robert want to smile more.

Liv’s thankfully quiet on the way to school. He’s glad because his head is still pounding and probably fuzzier than it should be when he’s driving. 

“Robert?” Liv shakes him out of his thoughts after a while. He realises they’re at the school.

“Yeah?” 

“I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

"For being so much trouble.” He scoffs at that. “No I mean it. Aaron made me promise I’d do better.”

“Liv, you’re missing your brother, I think you’re allowed to act out a little and I’d probably be more suspicious if you were being an angel, but maybe you could lay off antagonising the neighbours. The less I have to listen to Bernice complain, the better. Come on.” He knows that within days she’ll be back to causing mischief but at least she’s trying. “Anyway, if I told you half of what I got up to at your age your hair would curl.”

He follows her inside, explains to her form tutor, listens to the lecture that her GCSE year is very important, that her attendance isn’t good enough and all he can do is nod. There’s so much he wants to say to the condescending man in front of him, wants to bring the old Robert Sugden back for a bit but he can’t, doesn’t have it in him today.

He gets back to the pub, once again on autopilot and finds Chas in the back room, hands wrapped round a cup of tea. He’d thought when Aaron was first sentenced that she was too calm, that she was more worried about Sarah, than about Aaron, but then he found her a few nights later in a dark and empty pub crying her eyes out. He hadn’t said anything, just slipped into the booth beside her and let her lean against him and cry into his shoulder.

“Liv get to school?”

“Yeah.” He collapses into the sofa, closing his eyes, trying to stop the tears he knows are there, waiting to escape. “I should get to work.”

“You don’t look fit to climb the stairs let alone go to the scrapyard!” She tells him in that no nonsense way of hers. “By the way there's a couple of letters here for you.” She sends them flying over to him and he stops them as they land on his chest. The first is his car insurance, the second is junk. The third envelope makes him stop and look at Chas; finally he sees the slight smile on her face. 

He rips it open, his hands shaking as he pulls out a few sheets of paper. He scans the first, sees his name and what assumes is Aaron’s prisoner number. It gives him instructions for arranging a visit. He'd begun to think it would never come. He should have been able to visit Aaron within a few days but when he'd phoned he'd been told all visiting had been cancelled and he'd need to wait for a visiting order. It had taken Cain and Chas to talk him out of driving over and demanding information, Cain telling him it was fairly common, he just had to be patient. 

“Call them now. I'll be setting up the bar.” She stops on her way out. “Robert, you’re doing fine but I’m serious about taking the day off.”

He grabs his phone, makes a mental note to go into Hotten and grab Liv a new one, and finds the number for the prison. After hanging on and navigating the automated switchboard he finally speaks to a real person. Obviously his luck was in because he could see Aaron in two days. He listens as the voice recited the instructions of what he could and couldn't take, what to do when he arrived and everything else he needed to know. Right now he doesn’t care, he was going to see Aaron, his husband. It still sounds odd to him, he hasn’t been able to use it enough yet for it to roll of his tongue but it will, once Aaron is home, and safe.

When he hangs up, Chas is back, holding out a cup of coffee which he takes gratefully. He doesn’t feel better, but maybe his shoulders feel a little less tense, his head a little clearer.

“I can go on Thursday.” He sips the coffee and it feels like the first thing that's tasted right for days. “Sorry, I should have…” He's being selfish, he knows, wants Aaron all to himself.

“No love, you should be on your own. Liv and I will go next time.” She doesn't say anything more; they sit in companionable silence for a while. “Robert, don't expect too much from him. Don't be disappointed if he's not your Aaron.”

"I just want to see him, Chas.” He’s still not used to this, chatting away with her like this. He still waits for the barbed comments, the veiled criticism. “We can deal with anything else, but…I need him. I don't know what to do without him. I want us to be a family.”

“You're not doing so bad, you know. I know Liv is being, well, Liv but she’ll calm down. Why don't you grab a couple of hours sleep? Victoria told me to tell you she expects you for lunch at one.” He grins, he does know his sister. “And you are a family, whether you’re all together in one place, or not.”

He should go to work, he knows he should. Nicola will be on his back, Adam needs the help, but he's so tired and he does feel ill. Some of the tension has gone now he’s heard from Aaron but he still doesn’t feel up to working.

“Yeah. I think I will try and sleep. Might pop into Hotten after lunch if I feel better, Liv needs a new phone.”

Chas smiles and leaves him alone. He finds his phone, texts Adam and Nicola, then finds a message from Laurel asking him if it’s ok for her to take Liv with Gabby and Arthur for dinner and then bowling. Making a quick decision he calls Vic, cancelling lunch but promising to meet her and Adam for dinner in the pub that evening. 

Next thing he knows his phone is ringing and he's flat out on the sofa. He feels better though, a bit more rested. He locates his phone on the floor and grabs it.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” He smiles. Aaron. 

“Hey.” All of a sudden he doesn't know what to say. “Didn't expect to hear from you.”

“Just got lucky, no one was waiting. How are you?”

“Tired, bit of a cold I think. Too much drinking out of that damn welly, I think.” He happy to hear Aaron chuckle, “I've got good news. I can see you on Thursday.”

“Can't wait. How's Liv?”

“Same as ever. Her phone’s knackered so she overslept and she had to wake me so I could take her to school. Got hell off her teacher, felt like I was back in school!” Aaron laughs again and it makes Robert smile. “Honestly, she's fine, I promise. So am I.” He's not but Aaron doesn't need to know that.

They chat about nothing for a few minutes, Robert just glad to be able to listen to his husband.

“I don't have long left but…needed to hear your voice.” Robert knows.

“Yeah. Two days then at least we’ll be in the same room, even if it's with loads of other people.”

“Yeah. I've gotta go…but…you know?”

“I know.”

He waits until he hears Aaron hang up before he takes his phone away from his ear. He knows it doesn't change anything, Aaron still isn't any closer to being home, he's still stuck in that place but at least for now he sounds alright and he’ll get to see him. They’ll deal with anything else, he knows they can.

The next morning when he wakes up having enjoyed a better, if not perfect night’s sleep, there’s a text from Liv. He given her the phone when she’d got back the previous night and she hadn’t said much, not that he expected it. After all, Liv was Aaron’s sister in more ways than one.

From Liv: Chas said to let you sleep in. Thanx for the phone. x

He laughed his first proper laugh since the wedding. Maybe Chas was right, they are a family already.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr  @nooneelsecomesclose17


End file.
